Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has banned sale of meat for four days during the Jain festival of Paryushan. As per an order issued from Deonar abattoir, sale of meat in civic markets will be discontinued and the slaughterhouse will be shut on September 10, 13, 17 and 18.

While the Jain festival is scheduled to be held from September 10 to 17, Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations will begin in the city on September 17. Last year too, the sale of meat was banned in the city for four days.

The demand to ban meat sale, as per the order, was made by Ahimsa Sangh, Vishwamaitri Trust. “Jainism is based on the principle of non-violence. There are not only a lot of Jains in Mumbai but a lot of Jain monks will also be visiting the city during the period…we request you to cooperate during the rituals,” the letter said.

Panaji: A trial court has ordered Goa Police to file a First Information Report (FIR) against a Jain sage for roaming naked around Margao town last month.

In his order dated May 26, Judicial Magistrate First Class (Margao) Bosco Roberts ordered police to file an FIR under section 294 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with obscenity in public places.

The order, which was passed on May 26, but was formally issued on Wednesday, said that the photos of the Jain sage in the procession “prima facie make out an offence under section 294 of the IPC”.

“No doubt the freedom to practice and propagate one’s religion is sacrosanct under the constitution of India, but with every freedom comes responsibility and duty not to cause annoyance to others,” the order said.

Indore: The NDA government will try its “level best” to bring in a countrywide ban on slaughter of cows by evolving a consensus, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday.

“Cow slaughter cannot be accepted in this country. We will make all-out efforts to ban it and will also try hard for a consensus,” he told a gathering of spiritual leaders of Shwetambar Jains, a prominent sect of Jainism.

Referring to the cow slaughter ban in the BJP-ruled States of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the senior BJP leader said nobody should doubt the government’s commitment in this regard.

“The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh enacted a tough law; so has the Maharashtra government. We didn’t waste any time in sending the Bill passed by Maharashtra government to the President for his assent,” he said referring to the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, which also extends the ban to slaughter of bulls and bullocks.

On the occasion, Acharya Shivmuni wanted the Centre to bring in legislation in the current Budget Session of Parliament for banning slaughter of buffaloes also.

To this, Mr. Singh said the government needed to have an absolute majority in both Houses of Parliament to enforce a complete ban. “You must be reading in the newspapers how the government has to struggle to get various bills passed in Parliament.” The BJP lacks the numbers in the Rajya Sabha.

Mr. Singh recalled that when he was Agriculture Minister in 2003, his Ministry had prepared a Bill for a total ban on slaughter of cows. “But the moment I rose to present it in Parliament, there was an uproar. That is why we couldn’t get the Bill passed,” he said.

‘Gem of Indian culture’

Describing Jainism as the “gem” of Indian culture, he said: “The entire world is affected by the scourge of terrorism, origin of which lies in the mentality of violence. And this mentality can be fought with the teachings of Jainism.”